Filming Process

I had a girl that i was using as my lead actress, i had organised a filming day, but then at the last minute she pulled out on me and so i was left without an actress. I tried to ask a whole bunch of other girls, but unfortunately none of them could help me. I had to re-schedule filming and change the story slightly. Now it is just just 4 guys who go on the journey, one of them is dressed as a girl. My original idea was to make it like a more mainstream "normal" video, but it turned out really weird looking and i couldn't even help it! I filmed the whole thing in one day - i was in most of the scenes, so i had to direct the cameraman with all the different shots i wanted. It took quite a while to get my actors to act well in some shots, like the close up shots of olis eyes twitching and looking coked up. So in the editing process to make it look better i had to cut it up with lots of short shots to detract from it and to keep up with the beat of the song and make it look interesting - something new happening every time. It was a bit of a challenge getting high quality shots in the dark by the fire, even though my camera had a really big sensor to make it good in low level light - so i had to use a white led torch to add some light, especially in the dark woods where there was no fire. However it is also symbolic of moonlight, which is always used in horror movie chase scenes to add drama and a sense of dread. My brother ran alongside me as i filmed shining the torch on the actors as they ran, this proved a rather difficult task because we had to make it so the light was not so strong on them, as soft light looks more natural, and we also had to keep certain distances from each other so we didn't cause shadows of the camera on the actors.

Editing
 I decided to cut the video up with lots of quick shots of drums, or flashes of previous or later events in the video to keep it interesting, and to fit in better with the beat which is fairly fast and jumpy.

 I used hue and saturation to make all the weird colors, which is consistent throughout the video - this is to reinforce the whole idea that its not real, and it symbolizes the psychedelic aspect of the music, and the artists brand identity. I then layed blur and distortion effects over some of the shots where the actors are all intoxicated to help enforce whats going on in their heads, and to make it look more disorientating.

The green screen i used ended up working quite well, compared to the on i did in an earlier blog post, and i think it is an effective device to isolate the artist in the shots where he is performing so there is more of a focus on him from the audience.

I first tried doing the green screen inside my house, but the lighting was too low and i couldn't get any lights from the art department. It was also very difficult to get the angle right for the shot. After a few days pondering, i tried putting it up outside in my garden on a sunny day. This worked really well, because i had alot of space, the lighting was perfect, and i had a wooden frame in my garden that i could pin it up on.

One of my original ideas was to use a 1970s Cadillac, which would take the characters to an isolated place for them to set up camp. I had it all arranged to use the Cadillac, but then the next morning there were some problems regarding my actors, so i decided to not use it for the following reasons - It didn't really end up fitting in with the footage i had shot, or the story, it was never essential, i just really wanted it because i love old-school Cadillacs. Also i had filmed everything else that needed to be filmed the previous day. However - here are some pictures i took of it.